Alex's Birth Day

Evan, 3 months

Alex, 3 months

Evan, 6 months

Alex, 6 months

Evan, 9 months

Alex, 9 months

Evan, 1 year

Alex, 1 year

Evan, 18 months

Alex, 18 months

Evan, 2 years

Evan, 3 years

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Too many thoughts going through my head...so I apologize if this post is all over the place or doesn't make sense.

Evan has been in the hospital since Tuesday morning. I knew he was sick when I got home from work and he was sleeping on the couch at 11 am. He had been complaining of his lower stomach "hurting" a few times a day for the past two-three days, but that morning, he was in a ton of pain. Thankfully Mike's mom was able to come with me to urgent care to help with Alex while I stayed with Evan.

He was very lethargic and was hooked up to an IV to get some fluids in him since he was really dehydrated. It was so scary how fast it happened. How fast he wasn't feeling well, how quickly he got dehydrated, how fast the nurses and doctors were trying to figure out what was wrong...he looked so sick and looked awful. He would hardly respond to questions, look at anyone, or anything....so so scary.

Xrays were taken, blood was drawn, medicine was given, fever was high, and heart rate was high. Definitely not fun for him or for us. It is and was so hard to see him like this. The catheter had to be given twice to try and get a urine specimen...that was awful to watch. He was screaming and his teary eyes were watching Mike and I, looking at us to help him. It was so sad.

We were admitted to the hospital to stay the night. Found out that he was very constipated (even though he had been going #2 every day) and also had a urinary tract infection as well as a kidney infection. The fever got to be 104* and still was lethargic and just not himself. We had to wait 24-48 hours to get the blood cultures back to see if there was a bacteria infection in his blood. They did start antibiotics for the kidney infection and uti. The hardest part was leaving Mike and Evan at the hospital and taking Alex home. I cry every time I leave...We didn't want to leave Alex there (with all of the sicknesses that go around the hospital) and since he is still nursing and refuses a bottle, I had to go home. It broke my heart to leave, but know he is in good hands.

Lynne and Harold (Mike's parents) have been coming up to the hospital to watch Alex and Lynne stayed at our house on Thursday (and Friday) to watch Alex and then I would just go home or she would bring Alex up to nurse. My parents drove in for a few hours on Wednesday night and they are going to be coming back this weekend. Talking to family and friends has helped. Friends visiting and giving hugs has also helped. We are so thankful for all of the friends and family that have been calling, texting, offering food, sending gifts, facebook messages and praying. It's so hard to see your child like this...and we are so blessed with all of these caring friends.

We talked to the infectious disease specialist this evening and since
Evan does have a bacterial infection in his blood, they are trying to
figure out how he got it...they still don't know. He tested negative for
strep and has no open wounds on his body. They think the bacterial
infection in his blood caused the kidney infection. We are going to be
getting a kidney ultrasound tomorrow. It is even more scary when the
doctors were baffled as to what caused it, 5-6 doctors and residents
come into the room at the same time, and said this is very serious and
he still isn't totally out of the woods yet and that it was so good that
we came in when we did. I can't even let my mind go to that place to
what would've happened if we didn't bring him in at 11:30 that morning. I
had called the doctor and had an appointment to go in at 3:45 that day,
but called Mike and he said to just bring him to urgent care. I think
of all of the what ifs if we didn't go then and just waited for the
appointment...what would that bacteria in the blood would have done for 5
more hours growing in his little body....so scary.

As of now, he's been doing okay...not too much pain with going to the bathroom (which was a problem the first few days). We will most likely have to stay 7-10 days so he can get the antibiotics through his IV. He is refusing anything oral...the nurses tried tricking him into taking the pain meds. They tried putting it in chocolate pudding, milk, chocolate syrup, applesauce, etc. so now he wants nothing...Today we finally got him to eat a cheeseburger and some apple slices (he hardly has had anything the past few days). Hoping to get him drinking more too.

And then there's this little guy...such a champ! He is mostly sleeping in his crib after mostly Mike and Lynne have let him cry it out (it's much easier with E at the hospital so he can't wake Evan up at night, so it's a perfect time to get him out of his car seat!). He is loving his time with Grandma and loves to play with Evan in the crib too.

We've been playing choo-choos, cars, dinosaurs, and watching tons and tons of movies. I think by the time we leave the hospital we will have seen all of the Disney movies (even all of the Princess ones) :)

We love you Evan Samuel...get well soon. Love, Mommy and Daddy and Alex

Kasey... I saw this on FB and popped over here to see what was happening. And I wanted to tell you that we went through almost this exact same thing last year! My daughter Parker woke up one morning with a low grade fever but seemed ok, then she fell asleep on the couch around 9am and by 10am she started having seizures. She had 7 total between our house, the ambulance and the ER. She was in the PICU for a day while they worked to figure out what was happening and it ended up being a severe kidney infection (didn't go to her blood) that went to her brain. By day two she wasn't talking and acting totally drunk. By day three they did an EEG (EKG? I always get them confused!) and her brain waves had slowed considerably. HERE'S the kicker though! For SIX days in the hospital they had her on the WRONG meds. Someone had charted her bacteria wrong and they were treating her for e-coli when in fact she had some really rare bacteria. It took infectious disease (who actually read the whole chart) to catch the MASSIVE mistake. Anyway, once she got on the right meds she was great. 9 days in the hospital and THREE WEEKS with a picline for IV meds that went straight to her heart. It was an awful and incredibly scary/exhausting month! Hang in there. Become good friends with the child-life specialists b/c they will come in and play! Get to know the nurses (have family bring them treats!) and friend them. Order EVERYTHING you can for his meals even if he's not eating... you can order like jello/chips/yogurt/pudding/etc that will keep... Chris would take bags of food home! :) Oh and take lots of photos. As awful as it is right now one day you might want to look back and process it all. And write. I blogged everyday and it really helped me. And seriously, if you need to talk my cell is 314-541-9944.

Poor little guy. We are continuing to pray for the whole family and can only imagine the stress and anxiety this situation can bring. Sorry we can't be together this weekend, but we'll work something out so we can be together soon. Love you all! -Amanda

i so wish there was something i could do for you guys! i just remember being in the hospital with vivi last winter and feeling like the whole world stopped. thinking of you and hoping he is better very soon.